Prayer Requests

1. Continue to pray for the sale of our house in Virginia.
2. For the men & women of peace, who will enable our work.
3. A Thai co-worker for our work in the south.
4. To see Thais come to be Christian from our work at the Baptist Student Center
5. Wisdom in helping Christians and others with problems.
6. Good physical & spiritual health
7. Wisdom in knowing where to live in South Thailand

Idol Worship

As we travel from place to place in Bangkok we are always deeply saddened by the worship of idols. We see it in temples and at shrines around the city. We pray for the hearts of the Thai people to be turned to Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives and for opportunities to witness to them.

Bangkok Traffic

Richard & I like to take buses, sky train and the new subway in Bangkok. Traffic is usually heavy and one learns to be patient or frustrated when driving a vehicle. Coming home from the BSC we sat in traffic and watched an unusual sight. A man stooping on the edge of the road put a string down the metal grates of the storm sewer located in the turn lane. In just a few minutes, he pulled up a fish the size of my hand & put it in a large bucket. At first we thought we had seen incorrectly, but he did it again. We are so blessed to have regular income so that we don’t have to do that to eat.

Baptist Student Center

The BSC is a Center which teaches conversational English to Thais as a Christian outreach. Many Thai government employees study there.

We are in Bangkok to freshen up our Thai language skills before going south. However, we have been going to the Baptist Student Center for 3 hours twice a week. We talk to Thais from various occupations such as nurses, a jellyfish researcher, software programmer, sales people, someone working for a funeral arrangements company, & high school & university students.

As students come to practice their English with us, we are able to have some “spiritual” conversations. Richard is talking with two men named Na and Roat. Mr. Roat studies the Bible in English with another teacher and later talks with Richard about the lesson. This past Thursday his lesson was about Jesus eating with tax collectors while the Pharisees criticized him for eating with sinners. Richard discussed with Mr. Roat the meaning of being a sinner. Mr. Roat thought that the sinners in the story were only the tax collectors. Richard had him think about the sins of the Pharisees such as critical attitudes and self righteousness. Mr. Roat then agreed that everyone in the story was a sinner and in need of forgiveness.

Another night, Richard spoke with a lady who brought her 3 daughters. She said: “My youngest child is going to be used special by God one day”. Richard was shocked to hear this from a Buddhist. She explained that about 2 years ago the family was walking together as they passed a church. The youngest child, about 2 at the time, literally pulled her mother & sisters into the church. Her mother watched in amazement as the child bowed down to the ground with hands in a prayer like position in front of a picture of Jesus. None of the family had ever stepped into this church before! All her family believe that God will divinely use this child. The truth is that God has a special purpose for us all.